Don Kenn

I'm not sure if I would consider myself an artist, but I am quite the doodler. My mom said to me the other day, "You may be a doodler, but you raise it to an artform." I'm not sure if I exactly believer her, because moms have to say stuff like this; it's their job. Then I see someone like Don Kenn who has AMAZING doodles done impeccably in pen (I do all mine in pencil. Erasers.), then I really don't believe good ol' mom. Don Kenn creates and directs children's shows in Denmark, but in his spare time he draws monsters and creepy scenes exclusively on Post-It Notes. And you know I gots nothing but love for the creepy. Here is a small and quick sampling:

Side note: I especially like the floating monsters, mostly because they remind me of "Hush,"my favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode. The villains are called The Gentlemen, and they are made extra creepy because they float silently and slowly as they "politely" hunt you and kill you.

Project Runway: The Horror

I don't know why I didn't think to blog about Project Runway before. I watch it every week and I definitely have STRONG opinions about what happens. But this week was a drama doozy that has hefted me onto a Project Runway soapbox.

For the sake of full disclosure, I'll admit was on team Bert from day one. His story broke my heart and the garments he brought to the audition were simple and elegant and beautiful. But I am not longer on team Bert. I suppose it was naive of me to think that because Bert has been through so much heartache and loss in his life he would have more compassion and empathy for his fellow human beings. Nope. Uh-uh. Not even close. I was shocked and disgusted by his petulant and childish behavior toward his team during the challenge, but especially during the runway critique where he fist-pumped and laughed his way through his teammate's critiques. It was a disgusting display.


Moving on, Bert was not the only one who chose to be awful to his fellow contestants. Josh M. gave Bert a serious run for the money by being dismissive and cruel to his fellow teammate Becky. He basically used and abused her sewing skills and didn't let her contribute to the the design aspect of the team design challenge. It was awful to watch. Unfortunately his behavior was rewarded when this boring 90s reincarnation co-won the challenge. I mean, boxy knitwear with a racer stripe? It wasn't great in the 90s and it's even worse in this supposedly "fashion forward" seeking reality show. Barf.

Josh M.'s "winning" look.


But I did think that the other co-winner deserved his win. Viktor treated all this teammates with respect, they communicated well, and they made a cohesive and sporty collection. Viktor's winning design has a nice balance of hard and soft and is casual enough to wear with tennis shoes (which was part of the challenge), but could be worn with sandals or heels to change the look a bit. He should have won outright, but unfortunately for the world, I don't get to decide these sort of things.

Viktor's winning look.


Last but not least, there is Anya. Anya was cast on the show even though she claimed she had been sewing for only four months. And for some reason the judges LOVE her, even though she consistently sends the same thing down the runway. I respect Anya for her determination and her vision and her hair, but I am angry that they are glorifying the fact that she has no sewing skills. True, you can be a designer without sewing skills—it happens every day—but Project Runway REQUIRES that their contestants sew their own designs. Turns out Anya has had sewing help from her fellow contestants on almost every challenge. If those judges can't see that Anya's a one-trick pony (she uses the same racerback design on everything), I'm not sure if I can trust their "authority" as judges. (P.S. Josh M.'s dress that won was actually Anya's design and, of course, the back has her signature racerback.)


Until next time, rant done.

Questionable Taste?

I tend to like strange, dark, or twisty things, especially in stories (maybe because I dream odd things prolifically), but sometimes in other things as well. Things that are at once off-putting and beautiful.  Here is such a thing:

I can't stop looking at it. For more of these portraits, please (oh please) visit Thornston Schmidtkord's website here.

A Word a Day

I love learning new words. I believe that the more words you know, the more malleable, creative, and fun language use can be. Thus, if you look to your right, you will now see a "Word a Day" feature from wordsmith.com. Use it wisely.

via toothpastefordinner.com

Goodreads: The Hobbit

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Yes, it's true. This is the first time that I have read The Hobbit. I was a wee lass of about 10 when I first tried to read it, and I just couldn't get into it. So I decided it wasn't for me. Sure, I have since read the LOTR seriers, a couple of times in fact, and I love them. But I could not bring myself to start The Hobbit after my childhood experience. I have to say that while The Hobbit was very good, I still found myself not quite as "lost" in the story as I usually am when I read.

As compared to the LOTR series, The Hobbit definitely feels more geared to a young adult audience. There's a lot of action without a lot of laborious "history," and there's a light, jaunty tone attached to Bilbo's adventure. (After all, it was just a dangerous adventure and not a series of events that could lead to evil conquering the world.) But even though the characters were likable, there was a glaring lack of emotions or actions that helped me feel attached to them. Surprisingly, my first evaluation as a child was spot on; The Hobbit just wasn't for me.

So while I would recommend The Hobbit to anyone, it will never be among my favorites.


View all my reviews

Picture Pages

Rad. Talk about the right place at the right time OR very clever photoshopping.

As seen on ffffound.com.

Hot Reunion

Over the 4th of July weekend, my family had a reunion. In attendance were 42  family members: 2 parents, 8 siblings, 7 in-laws, and 24 nieces and nephews. It was all of us together for the first time in several years except for one nephew who is currently in Chile. It was hot, it was a madhouse, and at times it was even fun.

Oddly—or considering my family, maybe not so oddly—there seemed to be an undertext of Star Wars at our reunion. First, there was the hot air balloon raising where we saw this:

The dark side rises.

And took some pictures with him:

Lou, Clara, Daisy, and Lord Vader.

 Then there was the always awesome Provo parade where we saw this:

Star Wars meets We Are the World

And finally, the Star Wars theme came to a close by revisiting these videos with my nerd-in-law Jaron:

Anything goes on the NYC subway.


The first in a series of funny videos about Darth Vader's brother, Chad.